The impact of advertising on employee attitudes within the vehicle and asset finance division of a South African bank

Abstract:

This short dissertation is concerned with the impact that advertising can have on employee
attitudes in an organisation in the services industry. The specific organisation is the
Vehicle and Asset Finance Division of Nedbank, which is one of the four largest banks in
South Africa.
In a review of related literature it is highlighted that advertising can lead to cognitive,
affective and behavioural responses in an audience. In turn, behaviour, beliefs and affect
can impact, or be impacted by, a person’s attitude. Employees in a service organisation are
an important part of service delivery; therefore anything that can impact employee attitudes
is of interest to the organisation.
A study was conducted in the form of a census of all 717 employees in the division of the
bank, using a paper questionnaire as a data collection instrument. A response rate of 49%
was achieved, and data collected from respondents was analysed in terms of various
theoretical factors and statistically derived factors. A number of secondary research
objectives were also considered.
Findings of this research indicate that employees of the division do notice the
organisation’s advertising and their attitudes and resultant behaviour are affected by it in a
number of ways. Some of these include a heightened sense of pride and security about the
organisation, as well as increased employee commitment to provide improved customer
service. It was also established that there are significant differences in the way that
employees with different lengths of service, and employees in different job functions, are
impacted by the organisation’s advertising.
This study was restricted to a single division of a single bank in South Africa so the results
cannot be generalised for other divisions of the bank, other banks, other industries or other
countries. This provides an opportunity for future research.